France recommends women who had abortions in Barcelona get tested for AIDS

Madrid, Spain, Sep 29, 2008 / 06:47 pm (CNA).- The civil rights watchdog website in Spain, Hazteoir.org, reported this week that French health care officials are recommending that women who obtained abortions from Spanish doctor Carlos Morin undergo HIV tests to ensure they were not infected during the procedure.

The website’s report indicated that the witness in the case against Morin has testified that the Spanish doctor, who was the owner of the Ginemedex clinic, had been suffering from AIDS for nine years. “He never informed his patients of his illness and continued practicing abortions with his own hands,” the website reports.

In response, the French Minister of Health recommended that women who underwent abortions there get tested for the disease.

Maria Teresa Rodriguez Pomatta of the Association of Victims of Abortion in Spain said, “We are deeply saddened that it had to be French healthcare officials (not those of Spain) who issued the official alert about an abortion doctor with AIDS in Barcelona.”

She said it was sad that Spanish officials “seem to be more concerned with shielding those who make money from this business rather than protecting and caring for the health of women.”

She said the AVA has offered free AIDS testing to all women who underwent abortions at Morin’s clinic.

“We are aware of the double victimization that these families have suffered. On the one hand, they have lost their children; on the other, they have done so in unhealthy conditions,” said one doctor who collaborates with the AVA.